15 of the Most Outrageously Indulgent Vehicle Options

When Bentley revealed a mechanical clock for the dashboard of its new-for-2017 Bentayga SUV at an option price of nearly $170,000, it got our attention. We've seen more expensive options, mostly on limited-edition sports cars in the $1-million-plus range. But this? This is a clock, and a mechanical one at that. It's a good one to be sure, but by definition it is a device that tells time less accurately than does a smartphone. And it's in a vehicle with a base price of $232,000, so it nearly doubles the sticker.

Now that's an indulgence. It stands out, but there are plenty of ways to blow a chunk of cash on optional gear no one truly needs. We compiled this list of indulgent options from manufacturers' "ordinary" offerings, the ones that show up on standard order forms and online "build-your-own" configurators. Seriously wealthy people often spend more by having cars made to order. Most luxury makers cater to their whims, treating a $440,000 Rolls-Royce Phantom Coupé as a blank canvas for paint color-matched to their dog's eyes and trimming it in wood from the same tree used for the family patriarch's coffin. We didn't even have to go there to compile this list of some of our autodom's most outrageous indulgences.

It's as if Bentley were afraid that its 2017 Bentayga luxury SUV wasn't expensive enough at $232,000. It came out of the box with a First Edition model priced at $297,400 with a lot of upgrades, including the buyer's choice of Breitling watches valued at between $10,000 and $21,000. The special edition sold out its 608-unit run quickly. After which Bentley revealed the Mulliner Tourbillon by Breitling clock, an option that doesn't go on your wrist but is installed in the dashboard. There will be just four offered per year, because only one craftsman at Breitling makes them at a pace of one every three months.

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It's Nearly $170,000 Worth of Time

The clock's body is machined from a solid billet of gold—white or rose, buyer's choice—and the face can be rendered in black ebony or white mother-of-pearl. Eight diamonds denote hours (12, 3, and 9 o'clock are called out by numerals). At the 6 position rests the window that shows off the tourbillon, a complex mechanical device featured in the Swiss movements of luxury watches. Speaking of which, such time machinery needs to be wound. Which is not convenient for a thing stuck in the dashboard of a vehicle that might be parked at the owner's country home for days or weeks—so Bentley devised an electric mechanism to perform that task.

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In the Spirit of Gold

The Rolls-Royce flying lady—the Spirit of Ecstasy—can be plated in 24-karat gold for a mere $10,075. There are places and cultures where this is a must. And there are, we must also note, places where it reminds some of us of gold-toned badging on Toyotas in the 1990s. But hey, it's their money, and at least it's real gold.

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More Spirit for the Spirit

Rolls-Royce also offers further customization options for the Spirit of Ecstasy mascot, including an LED-illuminated version made from polycarbonate for $7850 and one lit from below for $4025. For $6525, you may also opt to have your Spirit rendered in solid silver.

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Rolls-Royce Starlight Headliner

It resembles the night sky and there's not even a moonroof to open. For only $12,925, Rolls-Royce will task its workers with the hand placement of 1340 fiber-optic nodes in little holes pierced through the leather headliner of a Wraith. The bigger Phantom gets 1600 points of light so the price may differ for the Starlight feature, especially if, as in a show car created by the company's Bespoke division, the "stars" are to be placed in the exact position of the constellations on a particular date. "Happy anniversary, dear, remember the stars that night?"

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Rolls-Royce "Celestial" Phantom Starlight Headliner

To that end, this specific Starlight headliner is in the "Celestial" Phantom, which was customized to celebrate the handover of the first new-generation Phantom to its owner at midnight on January 1, 2003. The headliner represents the alignment of the stars at that moment, while stitching is used to subtly call out the constellations that were visible. (A planetarium was consulted to verify authenticity.) Oh, and this particular car also received 446 diamonds inset into its door trim, center-console lid, and rear privacy divider. Because wealth.

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Lamborghini Warranty Extensions

The Lamborghini Aventador comes with a three-year warranty on your $400,995 purchase. Want a fourth year? Sure, $11,600 will handle that. A fifth year? Just $22,200. Or enough to buy an ordinary compact hatchback as a backup transportation plan.

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Lamborghini Warranty Extensions

Note these are not the usual third-party extended-warranty deals—these are optional extensions offered on the factory warranty. Compared with typical Lamborghini service charges, these are indulgences in peace of mind.

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Airscarf for Mercedes Convertibles

We were pleased when Mercedes-Benz revealed its new SL sports car for 2017 at the Los Angeles auto show to see that the new seats still have vents for the Airscarf.

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Airscarf for Mercedes Convertibles

It blows warm air onto your upper body when the top is open, extending the top-down driving season in the SL and SLK convertible models and the E-class cabriolet. The upper-range models now have it standard, and it's $3390 packaged with heated seats and keyless ignition on the SLK300. So it's becoming one of those "normal" things, but it still feels soooooo self-indulgent.

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Aston Martin Carbon Editions

Carbon fiber all the things! Carbon-composite structural and body elements are amazing—stronger than steel, lighter than aluminum, and costly as all get out. The problem is that you can't see the money. So automakers make a fortune with optional visible carbon bits both outside the car and in—the exterior carbon-fiber package on the Aston Martin DB9 costs $9090 and there's another package for the interior for $5380. Or you could just go for this car, the special, heavily carbon'd Carbon Edition DB9 at a base price of $201,120, which is just $10,000 more than the regular DB9 GT before adding the carbon options.

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Aston Martin Carbon Editions

Naturally there's a roadster version—called "Volante" in Aston-speak—of the Carbon Edition, too. It runs a cool $216,120. And if you need just a tad more carbon fiber, you can add exterior door handles rendered in the stuff.

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Aston Martin Transponder Watch

Soon, even fairly ordinary cars will communicate via smart watches that could replace today's proximity-sensing key fobs. Aston Martin got out ahead of that curve on its own a few years back when it began offering the Jaeger-LeCoultre AMVOX2 Transponder watch in 2006. Recently updated to AMVOX3 spec and offered as a mere $29,500 add-on when you buy the car, it's a high-end luxury watch (read: mechanical movement) with an electronic transponder in it that can lock and unlock the doors of a DB9 or Rapide.

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Aston Martin Transponder Watch

If you let the battery run down, you'll have to resort to unlocking the car the usual way, but at least you'll still know what time it is. If you remembered to wind the watch.

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Tesla Model S Third-Row Seat

You can get into a Tesla Model S now for only $71,000, so the pioneering American electric car does a lot of family transportation duty. And putting kid seats in any vehicle is such a hassle, but you can just have the factory put a pair in the cargo area for $3000. Actually, this could be considered less an indulgence than a clever bit of thinking outside the standard industry box (which would be an SUV with the third row facing forward). But ultimately the option of no-hassle car seats costs the same as the range-upgrading larger battery pack, which makes it indulgent in our book.

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Range Rover SVAutobiography DuoTone Paint

Merely "premium" paints cost $1800 on any Range Rover, but this isn't just any Range Rover. Range Rover has defined the luxury SUV for decades, so parent company Jaguar Land Rover cooked up the SVAutobiography special model to defend its niche against the coming onrush of nouveau contenders (like the aforementioned Bentayga).

It gets a 550-hp supercharged V-8 and tons of lavish upscale detailing outside and in the cabin to justify a $200,490 starting price—or about the cost of two base Range Rovers plus a Discovery Sport. For only $14,500 more, SVAutobiography buyers can upgrade the paint to the DuoTone scheme seen here: Range Rover lists nine color selections for the lower portion, and the buyer can pick any color for the top as long as it's Santorini Black. The same price applies if one chooses Chromaflair color-shifting paint (a little harder to photograph, you understand) or Mica paint.

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Range Rover Load Space Floor

The Range Rover SVAutobiography offers a sliding load floor that extends rearward—you might see it as a practical convenience, but then you get to choose either Figured Maccasser or Shadow Walnut wood for the floor surface when you tick the $5100 option. For those who'd like it to be just as easy to load passengers as cargo, a pair of "deployable" motorized side steps list at $4151.

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The King of Carbon

There's plenty more to be spent personalizing a $1.44-million ultra-exotic Pagani Huayra, an Italian sports car for those jaded by the mere Ferrari experience. Options include special paint offerings equal to the price of an entire luxury sedan. Built largely of carbon fiber with lots of it exposed anyway, it can be ordered with full carbon-fiber bodywork for an extra $152,000. Almost enough to get you a Bentley dashboard clock.

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Leave No Surface Unleathered

Leather all the things! You might think that just ticking the box for "leather interior" would put enough cowhide into the cabin for most people. That's just a start for the leather fetishists at Porsche, though, who will happily add more using scraps that might otherwise have been discarded after they did the seats. In the Panamera sedan, for example, leatherizing the air-vent slats adds $2505. Skinned sun visors go for $740, doorsill guards (lest your Manolo Blahniks risk contact with metal) cost $2920. There's a whole list of potential leathering to be done—steering columns, fuse-box covers, coat hooks. The only limit is how much skin you want to put in the game.

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Mercedes-Maybach Rear Seat

There's more to interiors than leather. Three options that together cost $6250 make up this lavish back-seat coddling compartment in the Mercedes-Maybach S600 Pullman limousine. Start with the $1950 Executive Rear Seat that replaces center-row seating with an extended legroom expanse and seats (only two, in acreage that'd park an entire Smart car) with powered footrests and throw pillows. This one-percent addition to the sticker on the $190,275 car really invites further indulgence with the $1100 refrigerated compartment designed to cradle a pair of champagne bottles.

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Mercedes-Maybach Champagne Flutes

Once you've splurged on Mercedes-Maybach's Executive Rear Seat and champagne cooler, well, heck, that pair of silver champagne flutes with bases that clamp into the cup holders is de rigueur, no? That'll be $3200 more, please.

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